Life and cult of Cnut the Holy The first royal saint of Denmark Edited by: Steffen Hope, Mikael Manøe Bjerregaard, Anne Hedeager Krag & Mads Runge Life and cult of Cnut the Holy The first royal saint of Denmark Report from an interdisciplinary research seminar in Odense. November 6th to 7th 2017 Edited by: Steffen Hope, Mikael Manøe Bjerregaard, Anne Hedeager Krag & Mads Runge Kulturhistoriske studier i centralitet – Archaeological and Historical Studies in Centrality, vol. 4, 2019 Forskningscenter Centrum – Odense Bys Museer Syddansk Univeristetsforlag/University Press of Southern Denmark KING CNUT’S DONATION LETTER AND SETTLEMENT STRUCTURE IN DENMARK, 1085 – NEW PERSPECTIVES ON AN OLD DOCUMENT King Cnut’s donation letter and settle- ment structure in Denmark, 1085 – new perspectives on an old document By Jesper Hansen One of the most important sources to the history of donated to the Church of St Laurentius, the cathedral medieval Denmark is the donation letter of Cnut IV, church in Lund, and it represents the first written re- dated 21st of May 1085 and signed in Lund (fig. 1). cord of rural administration and fiscal rights in Den- This letter is a public affirmation of the royal gifts mark (Latin text, appendix 1). Cnut’s donation letter Skälshög, two hides. In Flädie, five this agreed-upon decree against the to the church in Lund and a half hides which Håkon gave to command of holy religion, he is to be the king. In Hilleshög, half a hide. In excommunicated upon the Return of (Dipl. Dan 1.2:21) Håstad, one hide. In Gärd. In Venestad, our Lord and to be consigned to eternal In the name of the indivisible Trinity, one hide. In Skättilljunga, half a hide. punishment where worms never die and father, son and Holy Ghost, we desire In Sövestad, half a hide which Skore fire is never extinguished. Let his table it to be known to everyone in the Chris- paid for his peace. And half a hide in before him be for him a snare, a retribu- tian faith, how I, Cnut IV, son of king Karlaby which the same Scora gave for tion, and a stumbling block, with those [Svend] Magnus, after having received his peace to the king. In Brönneslev, who said to the Lord God, go away the kingdom as my paternal inheri- half a hide which the king redeemed from us, we have no desire to know tance, gave a dowry to the Church of from Thorgisl Gunstenson. In Gudes- your ways. But that which pertains to the Holy Laurentius – which is situat- bo [Göinge]. In Sandby, one hide. In the king’s justice in this aforementioned ed in Lund – even though it is not yet Zealand. In Ramsø Hundred [modern region, of whatever cause it be, shall be completed, so that it can forever be a Danish: Herred] in Øm, two hides. In put before the priest and the rest of the bride to the lamb that carries the sins Sømme Hundred in Tjæreby, two hides. brothers serving God in this place, ex- of the world, holy for the holy, immac- In Tune Hundred in Winningawe, two cept three offenses. If someone is out- ulate for the immaculate, dignified for hides. In Horns Hundred in Skuldelev, lawed he must buy peace from the king the dignified. And we have disclosed one hide. In Odense [or Onsved], one [by which that [offense] is repaired], what, or of what kind, this bridal gift hide. In Lower Smørum [Smørumne- but his wealth is taken by the priest and will be, before these witnesses: The dre], two hides. In Lynge Hundred in the brothers. If he neglects a call for bishops Rikwal, Svend and Sigvard; Børstingerød, two hides. In Jørlunde military service [leding], he must make Earl Håkon; the priests Arnold, The- Hundred in Tollerup, one hide. In reparations to the king. Horses for the oderic, Henrik and Gottskalk; the stal- Skenkelsø, one hide. On the island of [royal] carriages need not be given un- lars Alle, Håkon, Peter, Svend, Asser Amager. In Western Sundby [Sundby- less the king himself comes. Set down Håkonson. We desire to establish [this vester], five [hides]. In Brundby, three in Lund on the twelfth kalends of June gift], fixed and for all eternity, with hides. Of the money given each year [May 21] in the year of Our Lord’s in- God as protector. This is, then, the land from the plots in Lomma, three marks. carnation 1085 in the 8th indiction, the which Øpi Thorbjørnson in Lund gave Of the same money in Helsingborg, 22nd epact, and the second concurrent, in reparation for his peace. In southern three marks. From the plots in Lund, in the fifth year of the lord King Cnut. Uppåkra [Lilla Uppåkra], four and a twenty marks and one. If any power- The aforementioned bishops were pres- half hides [1 mansus = ca. 1 hide]. In ful man, of noble stock or not of noble ent and confirmed it in the Maker, Our the other Uppåkra, the same number stock, born or not yet born, puffed up Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forev- of hides. In Herrestad, eight hides. In by insolent boldness, desires to violate er and ever. Amen. 60 BY JESPER HANSEN Fig. 1: Transcript of King Cnut’s donation letter of 1085 in Necrologium Lundense, a collection of names and docu- ments relevant to Lund cathedral’s history, which is dated no later than 30th of June, 1123 (Lunds Universitetsbibliotek, ALVIN, edited by Peter Birch). Details pertaining to the organization of Danish sett- tohistoric assessments of land in Denmark based on lements that are reflected in the document can be stu- archaeological, as well as written, records, and also died in tandem with the available archaeological data place names. of that period, and vice versa. Due to the scarcity of Initially, I will outline the archaeological results sources from the period in question, an interpretation from my thesis on settlement organization, so as to of the document within a framework of settlement provide comparison with the surviving written records. history – with a focus on administrative, organiza- Secondly, I will address the content of the donation let- tional and judicial elements – is therefore best con- ter of 1085. My primary focus will be on the presence, ducted in comparison with the archaeological record. and absence, of localities identified in accordance with Research on the content and structure of the do- the hundreds system. Apparent inconsistencies in the nation letter was prominent during the 1920s and use of designating hundreds and lands have, since the again in the 1970s and ‘80s (e.g. Weibull 1923, 1925; 1920s, been a challenge for settlement and legal histo- Köcher 1923; Christensen 1969, 1977; Skansjö & rians in attempting to systematically correlate the con- Sundstrøm 1989; Weibull 1989). Since then, our tent and structure of the donation letter with require- archaeological knowledge about settlements and ments of, and legal affiliation towards, a thing-system the organization of (rural) society in Late Iron Age of the hides mentioned. By combining the archaeolo- and the medieval period has changed markedly, and gical and the written record, I will discuss how these within the last couple of years a fundamentally new inconsistencies can be explained within the complex interpretation of settlement organization has been dynamics of the organization of settlements. presented (Hansen 2015). Before addressing the theme in further detail, I will The purpose of this paper is to examine whether emphasize that I speak from the point of view of an King Cnut’s donation letter can be seen to corre- archaeologist, and the paper is to be seen as a con- spond with an idea of a strict judicial structure, i.e. a tribution to what will hopefully be a fruitful dialogue hundred- and thing-system as known from medieval between archaeologists, historians and philologists in law texts (twelfth and thirteenth centuries). And if this trying to understand this amazing document in its con- is the case, the question then is whether it is possible text of eleventh-century settlement history. to arrive at a tentative dating of the assessment of land according to Annette Hoff’s hypothesis (see below) Research history underlying the listing of hides in the document, and From the 1920s onwards, scholars such as the histo- thereby establish an interdisciplinary basis for pro- rian Lauritz Weibull (1923, 1925), Arthur Köcher 61 KING CNUT’S DONATION LETTER AND SETTLEMENT STRUCTURE IN DENMARK, 1085 – NEW PERSPECTIVES ON AN OLD DOCUMENT Vill Designation Vill Designation Lund Zealand Lilla Uppåkra Øm Ramsø Hundred Uppåkra Tjæreby Sømme Hundred Herrestad Vindinge Tune hundred Skälshög Skuldelev Horns Hundred Flädie Onsved Hilleshög Smørumnedre Håstad Børstingerød Lynge Hundred Venestad Gärd Tollerup Jørlunde Hundred Skättiljunga Skenkelsø Sövestad Sundbyvester Amager island Karlaby Brøndby Brönneslöv Lomma* Sandby Göinge [Guthisbo] Helsingborg* Lund* Tab. 1: The vills and designating hundreds/areas arranged as listed in King Cnut’s donation letter of 1085. The table de- monstrates the variation which has been used as arguments related to date the formation of hundreds in different regions of Denmark (i.e. Zealand and Scania). (*) represents money given annually from plots. (1923) and Aksel E. Christensen (1977) have been of the -thorp-period (which I argue begins c.800 AD, aware of the importance of the donation letter when see below), as well as the formation of hundreds in researching early Danish history (Weibull 1989). Ne- Scania (which I argue might have begun c.600 AD, vertheless, the information about settlement organi- see below (e.g. Rasmussen 1961, Hald 1974, Jørgen- zation provided by the donation letter has hitherto sen 1980, Svensson 2015)).